How This Restaurateur Rejected The Cookie-Cutter Model And Won Over A Ton Of Customers

Franchise stores like McDonald's and Applebee’s are usually all the
same in customers’ minds. But Jamaican restaurateur Marcia
Hawthorne rejects the cookie-cutter model.

Hawthorne owns three franchises of Golden Krust
Caribbean Bakery and Grill. Her family owns the 120-store
Caribbean food empire. Her creative thinking has made
her eateries in
the Bronx wildly successful among the Caribbean residents who
live in those neighborhoods.

“I’m always thinking about what we can do to entice the
customers,” says Hawthorne. She went into business for herself
when she was 21, after working in her mother’s own franchise. “We
have about 70 food items between breakfast, lunch dinner.”

Golden Krust, which was originally a bakery, is known for its
beef patties and baked goods, like breads and buns.
Its restaurants also
carry popular Jamaican breakfast and dinner items.

Most of the other locations focus on typical dishes like oxtail,
curried goat and fried chicken. Hawthorne’s stores also offer
less traditional items like shrimp linguine and sweet-and-sour
chicken to capture more than just Caribbean diners.

“My partner was the driving force behind this type of
restaurant,” says Hawthorne of her husband. “He said ‘Let’s come
up with more items, like American food or vegetarian stuff, which
most Golden Krust stores don’t have.”

But even though she is branching out, Hawthorne is careful not to
alienate the Jamaicans who patronize her business.

“We’re a Jamaican restaurant with a lot more flavor," she says.
"Even with the American-style dishes, we give it names that would
make Jamaicans feel familiar with them.”

Her store is also different from others in that she carries
traditional items that Jamaicans know from home. They can’t
usually find those items in the United States, unless they make
them themselves.

She says she’s won over at least 25 to 35 percent of her
competitors’ business by using this strategy of catering to a
wide variety of people, while still maintaining her business’
identity.

During the recession, she kept customers streaming into her
restaurants by running special promotions. She offered smaller
meals for $4, for instance, when most dishes run around $8. With
her lower price, she got more business and took less of a hit.

As of now, she’s not planning to open any more stores. Instead,
she wants to focus on improving her current restaurants.

“I want the business to thrive, we don’t want to become
complacent,” she says. “I think we’ve thought of everything so
far.”